Residual staple amount detection device of electric stapler

ABSTRACT

In an electric stapler which is attachably and detachably provided with a staple cartridge  2  attached and detached to and from a magazine portion of a stapler main body  1  and in which in the staple cartridge  2 , sheet-like staples a each constituted by connecting a number of staples in a straight form in a sheet-like shape are contained in a cartridge main body  2   a  in a stacked shape, and the sheet-like staples a are successively guided out to outside of an opening portion of a lower end portion of a front wall of the cartridge main body  2   a  from the sheet-like staple a at a lower end portion, an engaging plate  3  engaged with the sheet-like staple a at a topmost portion is arranged at an upper portion of the cartridge main body  2   a , an inner side or an outer side of the cartridge main body  2   a  is provided with position detecting mechanism  9  for detecting a position of the engaging plate  3 , and a remaining amount of the sheet-like staples a is detected based on detection of the position by the position detecting mechanism  9.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a staple remaining amount detectingapparatus in an electric stapler for detecting a remaining amount of astaple contained in a staple cartridge.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, there is known an electric stapler in which a sheet stapleconstituted by connecting a number of staples in a straight form in asheet-like shape is contained in a staple cartridge, the staplecartridge is inserted and detached into and from a path for mounting thecartridge formed at a magazine portion of a stapler main body, thestaple cartridge is inserted to attach thereto and thereafter, bothsides of a staple are successively folded to bend to strike out from astaple at a front portion of the sheet staple. According to such asystem of an electric stapler, when a remaining amount of the sheetstaple in the staple cartridge expires, the cartridge needs to be drawnout from the magazine portion to interchange by a new one thereof. Forsuch a purpose, it is necessary to provide a staple detecting sensor fordetecting the remaining amount of the sheet staple at inside of thestaple cartridge in the staple main body, or interchange a refill atinside of the cartridge.

However, a remaining amount detecting sensor of a background art isprovided at the stapler main body for detecting whether a sheet-likestaple is present at inside of the staple cartridge as indicted in FIG.2 of JP-Y-07-30282 by notation 41. Therefore, although presence orabsence of the sheet-like staple can be detected, a degree of aremaining amount of to what degree the remaining amount is reducedcannot be known. Therefore, even when the remaining amount is small, aresult of detection indicates as ‘present’ and when an electric stapleris provided to a copier or a printer, an operator is not informed of anaccurate remaining amount.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is a problem of the invention to provide a staple remaining amountdetecting apparatus in an electric stapler resolving the above-describeddrawback and capable of informing a remaining amount of a staple atinside of a staple main body sufficiently accurately.

In order to resolve the above-described problem, a staple remainingamount detecting apparatus in an electric stapler according to theinvention is characterized in that in the electric stapler attachablyand detachably provided with a staple cartridge attached and detached toand from a magazine portion of a stapler main body for containingsheet-like staples each constituted by connecting a number of stapleseach in a straight form in a sheet-like shape in a stacked state,wherein the staples are guided out to outside of an opening portion of alower end portion of a front wall of the cartridge main bodysuccessively from a lower end portion of the sheet-like staples, thestaple remaining amount detecting apparatus is arranged with an engagingplate at an upper portion of the cartridge main body for being engagedwith the sheet-like staple at a topmost portion, and provided with aposition detecting mechanism on an inner side or an outer side of thecartridge main body for detecting a position of the engaging plate,wherein a remaining amount of the sheet-like staples is detected basedon detection of the position by the position detecting mechanism.

Further, a staple remaining amount detecting apparatus in an electricstapler according to the invention is characterized in that in theelectric stapler attachably and detachably provided with a staplecartridge attached and detached to and from a magazine portion of astapler main body for containing a number of staples each in a straightform and wound in a roll-like shape, wherein the staples aresuccessively guided out to outside of an opening portion of thecartridge main body from the staple at a front end portion, the stapleremaining amount detecting apparatus is arranged with an engaging plateat an upper portion of the cartridge main body for being engaged with anupper end of the roll-like staple, and provided with a detectingmechanism for detecting a position of the engaging plate on an innerside or an outer side of the cartridge main body, wherein a remainingamount of the sheet-like staples is detected based on detection of theposition by the detecting mechanism.

Further, it is preferable that the detecting mechanism is arranged withtwo rows of pairs of left and right conductors in an up and downdirection, an output terminal is provided at an end portion of theconductor, an electrode provided at the engaging plate is slid whilebeing brought into contact with each of the conductors, the position ofthe engaging plate is detected by a value of a voltage measured acrossthe output terminals and the remaining amount of the sheet-like stapleis detected based on detection of the position.

Further, the detecting mechanism may be constituted by detectingmechanism, alternately formed with a portion of transmitting and aportion of reflecting light in an up and down direction, an opticalsensor provided at the engaging plate may be provided to the opticaldetecting mechanism to detect the position of the engaging plate bynumbers of times of transmitting and cutting off light, and theremaining amount of the sheet-like staples may be detected based ondetection of the position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of essential portions of a stapler mainbody and a staple cartridge.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an apparatus of detecting a remainingamount of a staple.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of essential portions of an engaging plateand position detecting mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of detecting a remaining amount by theposition detecting mechanism.

FIG. 5( a) and FIG. 5( b) are sectional views showing a state of movingdown the engaging plate.

FIG. 6 is a simplified view of a section in an example of a roll staple.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of detecting a remaining amount by positiondetecting mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of essential portions of an engaging plateand position detecting mechanism.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of other example of a staple remainingamount detecting apparatus.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of still other example of a stapleremaining amount detecting apparatus.

Further, in notations in the drawings, numeral 1 designates a staplermain body, numeral 2 designates a staple cartridge, numeral 3 designatesan engaging plate, and numeral 9 designates a position detectingmechanism.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In FIG. 1, numeral 1 designates the electric stapler main body andnumeral 2 designates the staple cartridge.

Sheet-like staples each constituted by connecting a number of staples ina straight form in a sheet-like shape are stacked in a plurality oflayers to contain in a cartridge main body 2 a of the staple cartridge2. Further, as shown by FIG. 2, by a feed mechanism provided at thestapler main body 1, the sheet-like staples a are successively guidedout to outside of a front guide 2 b of the cartridge main body 2 a fromthe sheet-like staple a at a lower end portion at inside of thecartridge main body 2 a. Further, a magazine portion 1 a of the staplermain body 1 is formed with a space s for mounting the cartridge 2.Further, the staple cartridge 2 is inserted to attach to the space s,the sheet staple a is fed frontwardly, both sides of the staple at thefront end of the sheet staple a guided out from the front guide 2 b arefolded to bend and thereafter, penetrated through abound member (sheet)and finished to bind and thereafter, the sheet-like staple a is fedagain frontwardly to prepare for successive binding. Thereafter, theoperation is repeated and both sides of the staples are successivelyfolded to bend to strike out from the staple a at the front portion.Further, since a mechanism of folding to bend to strike out both sidesof a staple at a front end of a sheet-like staple is publicly known, anexplanation thereof will be omitted here.

The engaging plate 3 for engaging with the sheet-like staple a at atopmost portion is arranged at an upper portion of the cartridge mainbody 2 a. The engaging plate 3 is always urged downwardly by a coilspring 4 to press the contained sheet-like staple a downwardly. Further,a projected portion 5 is formed at a center portion of a front end ofthe engaging plate 3 and the projected portion 5 is arranged with a pairof left and right electrodes 6, 7 (refer to FIG. 3). The electrodes 6, 7are connected via a cord, not illustrated.

Next, an opening groove 8 continuous in an up and down direction isformed at a center of a front wall of the cartridge main body 2 a.Further, the position detecting mechanism 9 of the engaging plate 3 isarranged at a position frontward from the opening groove 8. The positiondetecting mechanism 9 of the engaging plate 3 may be, for example, aconductor 9 a shown in FIG. 3. Output terminals 10, 11 are provided atend portions of the conductors 9 a and are brought into contact withcontacts 12, 13 provided at the stapler main body 1. The contacts 12, 13are connected to a signal processing circuit 14 and a postprocessingcontrol circuit 15. Further, a voltage across the output terminals 10,11 is measured by a voltage meter.

The projected portion 5 of the engaging plate 3 at inside of thecartridge main body 2 a is projected from the opening groove 8 and theelectrodes 6, 7 of the projected portion 5 are respectively brought intocontact with the conductors 9 a. Therefore, when the engaging plate 3 ismoved in an up and down direction, the electrodes are slid in the up anddown direction while being brought into contact with the conductors 9 a.Therefore, when the voltage across the output terminals 10, 11interposing the position detecting mechanism 9 is measured by a voltagemeter 16, also the voltage is varied.

Explaining here of a mode of using the staple remaining amount detectingapparatus having the above-described constitution, first, after mountingthe staple cartridge 2 to inside of the space s of the stapler main body1, the staple sheet a at a lowermost layer is fed from an openingportion at a lower end portion of a front wall of the cartridge mainbody 2 a to the guide portion 2 b. Further, when the both sides of thestaples are successively folded to bend to strike out from the staple atthe front portion of the sheet staple a by driving a driver plate (notillustrated) provided at the stapler main body 1 in the up and downdirection, the staples at inside of the staple cartridge 2 are consumedlittle by little. In accordance therewith, as shown by FIG. 5( a) andFIG. 5( b), also the engaging plate 3 is moved down little by little andtherefore, also the electrodes 6, 7 of the engaging plate 3 are sliddownwardly while being brought into contact with the conductors 9 a.Therefore, also a resistance between the output terminals 10, 11 islinearly reduced, and also the voltage across the output terminals 10,11 is lowered in accordance therewith. Therefore, the position of theengaging plate 3 can be detected by a value of the voltage measuredacross the output terminals 10, 11 and the remaining amount of thesheet-like staple a is finely detected based on detection of theposition.

Next, FIG. 6 shows other example of an electric stapler, also theelectric stapler is attachably and detachably provided with the staplecartridge 2 attached and detached to and from the magazine portion ofthe stapler main body, and in the staple cartridge 2, a number ofstaples in a straight form are connected to be wound in a roll-likeshape to contain in the cartridge main body 2 a and are guided out tooutside of the opening portion of the cartridge main body 2 asuccessively from the staple at the front end portion.

Also in this case, the engaging plate 3 engaged with an upper end of theroll-like staple b is arranged at an upper portion of the cartridge mainbody 2 a, inside or outside of the cartridge main body 2 a is arrangedwith the conductors 9 a provided with the output terminals 10, 11 at theend portion as the position detecting mechanism 9 of the engaging plate3 similar to the above-described, the output terminals 10, 11 areprovided at the end portions of the conductors 9 a, and the stapler mainbody 1 is connected with the signal processing circuit and thepostprocessing control circuit the same as the above-described. Further,the voltage across the output terminals 10, 11 is measured by thevoltage meter.

Also in the case of the example, when the roll-like staple b in thestaple cartridge 2 is consumed little by little, also the engaging plate3 is lowered little by little, also the electrodes of the engaging plate3 are slid downwardly while being brought into contact with theconductors 9 a and therefore, also the voltage across the outputterminals 10, 11 is lowered in accordance therewith. Therefore, theposition of the engaging plate 3 can be detected by the value of thevoltage measured across the output terminals 10, 11 and the remainingamount of the staple can finely be detected based on detection of theposition.

Further, in the above-described two examples, as shown by FIG. 7, byarranging an analog/digital converter 17 in place of the voltage meter,the remaining amount of the staple can be grasped as a digital value.

Further, the sheet-like staple a is not limited to an example of beingdirectly filled in the cartridge main body 2 a. The sheet-like staple ain a state of being packed in a paper pack or the like shown by a dottedline a1 in FIG. 2 in a stacked state may be supplied as a refill.

Further, detection of the position may not be carried out by theabove-described variable resistor. For example, as shown by FIG. 8, aconductor 19 is formed at a front face of the engaging plate 3 and theelectrodes 18 are formed at every other layer as the position detectingmechanism 9. Therefore, while moving down the engaging plate 3, when theposition detecting mechanism 9 is brought into contact with theelectrode 18, electricity is conducted and when the position detectingmechanism 9 are separated from the electrode 18, electricity is cut off.Further, a side of the stapler main body 1 is provided with a controlapparatus for measuring numbers of times of conducting electricity andcutting off electricity to and from the electrode 18 and determining theposition of the engaging plate 3 by the numbers of times. Accordingthereto, although a number of times of electricity conduction is nullwhen the engaging plate 3 is disposed at a topmost portion, while movingdown the engaging plate 3, the number of times of electricity conductionis increased and therefore, the position of the engaging plate 3 can bedetected by the number of times of electricity conduction.

Next, the position detecting mechanism 9 is not necessarily limited to amechanism for electrically detecting the position. For example, as shownby FIG. 9, the position detecting mechanism 9 may be constructed by aconstitution in which portions 20 for transmitting light and portions 21for reflecting light are alternately formed in an up and down directionand an optical sensor 22 is provided at the front portion of theengaging plate 3. When the optical sensor 22 respectively counts a timepoint of passing the light transmitting portion 20 and a time point ofpassing the reflecting portion 21 while moving down the engaging plate3, the position of the engaging plate 3 can be detected by the numbersof times of measuring the numbers of times of transmitting and cuttingoff light and the remaining amount of the sheet-like staple a can bedetected based on detection of the position.

Further, the position detecting mechanism is not limited to the exampleof being provided on an outer side of the cartridge main body. Theposition detecting mechanism may be arranged at an inner side thereof.Further, the ‘inner side’ and the ‘outer side’ are not limited to beseparate from the cartridge main body. For example, as shown by FIG. 10,a graduation 24 may be formed on an outer side of an edge of the openinggroove of the cartridge main body 2 a as position detecting mechanismfor detecting a position of a reference line 23 of the engaging plate 3and the remaining amount of the sheet-like staple may be detected basedon detection of the position of the engaging plate 3 by the positiondetecting mechanism 24. In this case, the graduation 24 is detected bydirectly confirming the graduation 24 by the eyes. Similarly, (althoughnot illustrated) the cartridge main body may be made to be transparent,an outer side face thereof may be formed with a graduation as positiondetecting mechanism for detecting the position of the engaging plate,and the remaining amount of the sheet-like staple may be detected basedon detection of the position of the engaging plate by the positiondetecting mechanism.

Further, although the above-described respective examples relate to thecase of successively moving down the staple from the upper end, there isalso a case of arranging the staple cartridge downwardly, in this case,the position of the engaging plate is moved upwardly while consuming thestaples and therefore, the measurement may be carried out in accordancewith a state of increasing or reducing the staples.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above, the upper portion of the cartridge main body 2 a isarranged with the engaging plate 3 engaged with the staple at thetopmost portion formed in the sheet-like shape or the roll-like shape,the inner side or the outer side of the cartridge main body 2 a isprovided with the position detecting mechanism 9 of the engaging plate3, the remaining amount of the staple is detected based on detection ofthe position of the position detecting mechanism 9 and therefore, theposition of the engaging plate 3 is changed from time to time inaccordance with consumption of the staples and therefore, the remainingamount of the staples can accurately be grasped.

1. A staple remaining amount detecting apparatus in an electric stapler,used in an electric stapler comprising a staple cartridge providedattachably and detachably to and from a magazine portion of a staplermain body for containing sheet-like staples each constituted byconnecting a number of staples in a straight form in a sheet-like shapein a stacked state, wherein the staples are guided out to outside of anopening portion of a lower end portion of a front wall of the cartridgemain body successively from a lower end portion of the sheet-likestaples, comprising: an engaging plate arranged at an upper portion ofthe cartridge main body and engaged with the sheet-like staple at atopmost portion; and a position detecting mechanism for detecting aposition of the engaging plate, wherein a remaining amount of thesheet-like staples is detected based on the detection of the position ofthe engaging plate by the position detecting mechanism, wherein theposition detecting mechanism comprises a plurality of conductors and anoutput terminal provided at each of the conductors, wherein the engagingplate is provided with an electrode made to be movable along theconductors while being brought into contact with each of the conductors,and wherein the position of the engaging plate is detected based on avalue of a voltage measured across the output terminals, and theremaining amount of the sheet-like staples is detected based on thedetection of the position of the engaging plate.
 2. A staple remainingamount detecting apparatus in an electric stapler, used in an electricstapler comprising a staple cartridge provided attachably and detachablyto and from a magazine portion of a stapler main body for containing anumber of staples each in a straight form and wound in a roll-likeshape, wherein the staples are successively guided out to outside of anopening portion of the cartridge main body from the staple at a frontend portion, comprising: an engaging plate arranged at an upper portionof the cartridge main body and engaged with an upper end of theroll-like staple; and a position detecting mechanism for detecting aposition of the engaging plate, wherein a remaining amount of theroll-like staples is detected based on the detection of the-position ofthe engaging plate by the position detecting mechanism, wherein theposition detecting mechanism comprises a plurality of conductors and anoutput terminal provided at each of the conductors, wherein the engagingplate is provided with an electrode made to be movable along theconductors while being brought into contact with each of the conductors,and wherein the position of the engaging plate is detected based on avalue of a voltage measured across the output terminals, and theremaining amount of the roll-like staples is detected based on thedetection of the position of the engaging plate.
 3. A staple remainingamount detecting apparatus in an electric stapler, used in an electricstapler comprising a staple cartridge provided attachably and detachablyto and from a magazine portion of a stapler main body for containingsheet-like staples each constituted by connecting a number of staples ina straight form in a sheet-like shape in a stacked state, wherein thestaples are guided out to outside of an opening portion of a lower endportion of a front wall of the cartridge main body successively from alower end portion of the sheet-like staples, comprising: an engagingplate arranged at an upper portion of the cartridge main body andengaged with the sheet-like staple at a topmost portion; and a positiondetecting mechanism for detecting a position of the engaging plate,wherein a remaining amount of the sheet-like staples is detected basedon the detection of the position of the engaging plate by the positiondetecting mechanism, wherein the position detecting mechanism providesan electrical signal based on the detection of the position of aprojected portion of the engaging plate, wherein the position detectingmechanism comprises a plurality of conductors and an output terminalprovided at each of the conductors, wherein the engaging plate isprovided with an electrode made to be movable along the conductors whilebeing brought into contact with each of the conductors, and wherein theposition of the engaging plate is detected based on a value of a voltagemeasured across the output terminals, and the remaining amount of thesheet-like staples is detected based on the detection of the position ofthe engaging plate.
 4. The staple remaining amount detecting apparatusin an electric stapler according to claim 3, wherein the electricalsignal is a voltage that is variable based on the position of theengaging plate.
 5. The staple remaining amount detecting apparatus in anelectric stapler according to claim 3, wherein the position detectingmechanism detects the position of the engaging plate by countingelectrical signals.
 6. A staple remaining amount detecting apparatus inan electric stapler, used in an electric stapler comprising a staplecartridge provided attachably and detachably to and from a magazineportion of a stapler main body for containing a number of staples eachin a straight form and wound in a roll-like shape, wherein the staplesare successively guided out to outside of an opening portion of thecartridge main body from the staple at a front end portion, comprising:an engaging plate arranged at an upper portion of the cartridge mainbody and engaged with an upper end of the roll-like staple; and aposition detecting mechanism for detecting a position of the engagingplate, wherein a remaining amount of the roll-like staples is detectedbased on the detection of the-position of the engaging plate by theposition detecting mechanism, wherein the position detecting mechanismprovides an electrical signal based on the detection of the position ofa projected portion of the engaging plate, wherein the positiondetecting mechanism comprises a plurality of conductors and an outputterminal provided at each of the conductors, wherein the engaging plateis provided with an electrode made to be movable along the conductorswhile being brought into contact with each of the conductors, andwherein the position of the engaging plate is detected based on a valueof a voltage measured across the output terminals, and the remainingamount of the roll-like staples is detected based on the detection ofthe position of the engaging plate.
 7. The staple remaining amountdetecting apparatus in an electric stapler according to claim 6, whereinthe electrical signal is a voltage that is variable based on theposition of the engaging plate.
 8. The staple remaining amount detectingapparatus in an electric stapler according to claim 6, wherein theposition detecting mechanism detects the position of the engaging plateby counting electrical signals.